Firstly I'd like to repeat my earlier statement (probably lost in the storm of posts recently) that to my keen eye, the TGC offering is actually a bigger and better version of their old 'funbonds' scheme. It is a loyalty scheme designed to share some of their profits with keen gamblers/investors. I suppose not having to pay 80%+ of their profits to a government regulatory agency gives them that privilege. I wouldn't be surprised if their payouts weren't more generous than most Government-sanctioned casinos. Anecdotally, I have done far better at TGC than 'real' casinos and slot machines both in the short and long terms. Of course I am still behind in the long term, but that is the nature of playing games of chance that favour the house over long periods of time.
Secondly, all the arguments advanced regarding the worth of Government-sponsored casinos vs free casinos is analagous, to my mind, to the arguments I constantly have with brainwashed idiots over the value or otherwise of government regulation of motor cars and their drivers. When I point out that there seem to be no shortage of dangerous drivers who have their government- approved license to drive and their government- endorsed sticker to prove their car is registered. In fact they are in the vast majority. If 20% of car accidents involve drunk drivers (I'm just pulling that figure out of the air, but I suspect it's in the correct ball park), what about the other 80%? Are they naturally dangerous drivers? But they almost all have licences and registered vehicles! Well, the obvious answer (to these idiots) is to fund more policemen to drive around dangerously on the roads with impunity and try and raise revenue by fining people. Madness. Similarly when I tell people I don't have a drivers license and never had, they are knocked for six! But how do I cope with all those petty burocrats and busybodies who want to see your drivers license every time you want to buy a bus ticket, rent a hotel room or join a lending library? Well, I seem to manage. I occasionally have to tell someone to go and get stuffed or start yelling at the clerks in the post office, but they eventually come around to my way of thinking (usually). I even drive occasionally, and I know that if I am apprehended by the forces of the Government, it is a relatively trivial offence to drive while unlicensed (as opposed to driving with a suspended or cancelled license, which is fairly serious). Another example of mindless petty burocracy: I run a small mail-order business. Recently a parcel I posted to someone (of some highly scandalous bicycle inner tubes) was returned to me by the post office due to my having accidentally underpaid it by about $5. There was some sort of message scribbled on the side of it from some postal busy-body inviting me to ring him and discuss the matter. Not having time for such flippancy, I simply stuck some paper over the messages and the big 'insufficient postage' stamps and dropped it in the mailbox again. Needless to say it got through. However when I attended my local postal agency a few minutes later, the owner was quite agitated. He said he had received 4 phone calls from Australia Post security regarding an underpaid parcel I had posted with a postage frank he had sold me. Apparently he got into a big argument with this idiot about it, along the lines of how he only sells the stamps and isn't responsible for whether the correct amount are attached to parcels before they are posted. The postal security idiot claimed that it was a security breach to sell people franks because the date on the postage frank might make it look like the mail is slow in arriving. The newsagent pointed out that they have been selling them without a problem for years, including through the mail. Then the fellow in question told him that he wasn't to sell me postage franks any more, only normal stamps. 'But he'll still underpay them', the newsagent told him. 'Well then we'll send him a blue slip asking him to pay the difference!' (which is what they usually do) he replied. 'But he refuses to pay them', the newsagent told him. 'Well then we'll send the items back to him undelivered!' (their trump card) the self-appointed protector of the postal revenues told him. If it weren't for the public service these idiots would starve. Those Ebay auctions are looking good, and E-gold is always accepted: http://cgi6.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ViewSellersOtherItems&userid=dwarf_fighter&sort=0 &page=1&rows=200&since=1&showpics=1&stab=30 New Books at Discount Prices --- Send the right message --- + Today freemail + Get your free, private email address at http://www.today.com.au --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Use e-gold's Secure Randomized Keyboard (SRK) when accessing your e-gold account(s) via the web and shopping cart interfaces to help thwart keystroke loggers and common viruses.
